Celebrating every milestone

The biggest thing I struggled with when I first started writing was finishing the story. A simple, but fairly important, hurdle. Granted, most of these were short snippets when I was a teenager. I had the attention span of a gnat. But it was my struggle, and it was difficult. It’s easy to be excited about the concept of a story. It’s another thing entirely to put in repeated hours pulling a story into reality.

The best thing I’ve found for beating this is celebrating every little moment. Write 3,000 words a day, even if you have to delete them all tomorrow, because they’re terrible. Finished your 3,000? Time for a cup of hot chocolate. Made the decision to delete them? Maybe time for a chocolate biscuit, because that’s gotta sting.

This time I’ve hit a slightly bigger milestone: I’ve finished the first draft of a book. It’s very exciting to finally see it all down on paper, to know how it takes shape outside of my head. I’m proud of it. I know it’s a good story.

At the same time, there’s no need to get too excited. It’s the first draft, and will need many edits before I even send it to the official editor. It’s also the first in a two-part story, so technically, the story isn’t finished yet! But the book is, and I’m happy with it.

Have you hit any milestones recently, in writing or otherwise? What keeps you motivated?